Illinois textbook costs going up

Illinois families already shell out more money for K-12 textbooks than parents anywhere else in the country, but now they face even steeper bills after the state wiped out funding for schoolbooks.

With the state in fiscal crisis, the Illinois State Board of Education for the second year has eliminated more than $40 million in funding used to defray textbook costs — or about $40 per student.

Now, districts are passing along that cost to families in a variety of ways: Some schools that rent books to students are hiking the fees. Those that require students to buy books will be passing out fewer free ones. And even private schools are taking a hit because the money also was available to them, prompting Illinois' Catholic bishops to write a letter to Gov. Pat Quinn calling the cuts "poorly reasoned and deeply flawed."

While books are free in the vast majority of public school districts across the country, bills of $300 or more per student are not uncommon in some Chicago-area schools. Instead of using tax dollars or general state aid money, districts have traditionally looked to parents to pay for books.

In Arlington Heights, registration fees that include textbook rentals are $350, up $50 this school year. For the first time in five years, the Elgin-based U-46 school district raised its instructional materials fee for high school students to $125, a 25 percent increase. Wheaton's K-12 district increased fees that include high school book rentals to $175 and also stopped providing some free workbooks to students.

At New Trier Township High School, where students had been required to buy books for almost 100 years, the district for the first time has allowed parents the opportunity to rent books. The move was in response to concerns from parents about the high cost of textbooks, said New Trier administrator Paul Sally, who recommended the rental program.

Still, when parent Beth Rubin left a book sale in the school cafeteria last week with a cardboard box filled with her daughter's textbooks, the bill came to $417.80. And that was the total, with renting books for algebra-trigonometry and human geography.

"It's still an enormous amount of money," said Rubin, of Wilmette.

In the past, districts such as New Trier, Glenbard Township High School District 87, and Elmhurst School District 205 used state textbook money to purchase select books that high school students could borrow for free, cutting down on the number families had to buy.

Districts last had access to that money in 2008-09, and the impact was not immediate for some schools that had enough funds to buy books. But year after year without the state funds, the free textbook supply is dwindling and books will become increasingly outdated and unusable, school officials said.

York CommunityHigh School in Elmhurst, for example, has only nine types of textbooks left that were purchased with the state textbook money, according to Karen Sullivan, the district's assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Only students enrolled in those courses — mostly math and consumer science — will be able to borrow free books this school year. The rest of the students will have to buy all their books.

At Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago, Principal Antoinette LoBosco said she has been able to buy enough books by combining about $157,000 from the state in 2009, money from Chicago Public Schools, and student fees — her school charges a $195 registration fee that helps cover books.

But she worries about the future.

"In a few years, we will not be getting enough to cover (book) replacement costs, because we don't get the state allotment any more," she said.

Textbooks are considered an academic staple and are typically free elsewhere in the country. Only about 15 percent of school districts nationwide collected money from families for textbook rentals or purchases in 2008, according to the most recent federal data.

That year, districts across the country collected $201.5 million, with Illinois collecting the most — $96.8 million. Only six states, mostly in the Midwest, collected more than $10 per student for textbooks.

Nearly all districts across Illinois require families to pay for books, with parents in the Chicago area generally paying more than downstate parents. Courts here have upheld book fees, based on case law that interprets a free education as a school building and teachers — not books and other supplies.

By requiring parents to pay for books, districts don't have to pass along the cost to all taxpayers.

Gary Martin, a New Trier graduate and parent, has appeared before the school board to question the high cost of books. He said he isn't opposed to paying for his children's supplies, particularly because he is pleased with the quality of education at the school.

At the same time, "It is just the amount is so incredible," Martin said. "And if you have an (Advanced Placement) course, those books are over $100, if not more, and they are huge. Why are they so expensive? What is going on?"

In years when he has had more than one child at New Trier, Martin said he has paid more than $1,000 for textbooks.

Districts waive the fees for low-income students, and some offer installment plans so parents can spread out payments. Districts also have begun providing specific information about books required for classes, so that parents can shop online for the cheapest prices. Students also can recoup some money if they sell back books at the end of the school year.

While the state's textbook subsidies have helped districts and parents, they never have covered the full cost.

The textbook budget has ranged from about $24 million to $42 million over the last decade, with higher amounts in more recent years. Districts didn't receive money directly, but used the allocations to order books from the state.

Kelly Kraft, a spokeswoman for Quinn's budget office, said many requests have been made to restore education funding but not all can be accommodated in the current economic crisis. She said the governor remains committed to increasing school funding.

State Board of Education spokeswoman Mary Fergus said the agency had to make a number of difficult decisions as it cut programs because of the state's budget shortfall. There were no "good choices,'' she said.

Board members wanted to minimize the effect on students by not cutting such areas as general state aid dollars that are distributed to schools. Though textbook funding got axed, districts can still use their state aid money for books, Fergus said.

Instead, some districts are putting off replacing books now that the designated state funds have dried up.

Debra Parenti, an associate superintendent who oversees finances in Arlington Heights-based Township High School District 214, said books will be reviewed for replacement every six years instead of five. The district also is looking at developing its own supplementary materials for a text, rather than buying a new edition, she said.

Barrington School District 220 also is stretching out its textbook purchasing, buying books over a two- or three-year period rather than all at once, said spokesman Jeffrey Arnett. For example, for a new literacy curriculum, reading books will be introduced first, following by writing the next year, he said.

Of the private schools, Catholic schools have been hit hardest by the cutbacks. They got nearly 75 percent of the almost $3.5 million in state textbook money allocated to private schools in 2008-09.

It was one of the few pots of state money benefiting private schools, said Robert Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois.

"If you talk to Catholic school principals," he said, "they'll tell you that it is one more, if you will, stick in the eye, that the non-public school community has received from the state of Illinois."

Gilligan said Catholic schools save money for taxpayers by educating thousands of students that could otherwise be enrolled in the public system.

"By and large, Illinois has recognized that providing an offset for the cost of textbooks is a very, very small token of support of non-public schoolchildren," he said.

As with public schools, the state money kept book costs lower for private school parents, said Sister Kathleen Anne Tait, principal at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights. Her school got about $61,000 from the state for books in 2008-09, helping defray costs for parents, some of whom were struggling to pay tuition in a tough economy.

If books can't be replaced in a timely way because of the state budget cuts, she said, "You are eroding the education for all students."